NATTERING NABOB IN NORWAY

During President Barack Obama's Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech on December 10th, in Oslo, Norway, he revealed that his moral standards for war are confused and strikingly incoherent. The mainstream media praised his speech, so-called conservative leaders praised his speech, the adulation was universal. I wasn't impressed, the president's speech was more of an adolescent fantasy than a statesman-like call for reason. There were plenty of intellectual blunders, so I'll spare you and focus on one.

Mr. Obama tried to modernize the “just war” doctrine. He started by stating the historical “just war” standard, “The concept of a "just war" emerged, suggesting that war is justified only when certain conditions were met, if it is waged as a last resort or in self-defense; if the force used is proportional; and if, whenever possible, civilians are spared from violence.” Several prominent hawkish conservatives praised the president for justifying America's fight in Afghanistan. How can I praise that while he bashed the previous administration's anti-terror tactics in the same speech? “And even as we confront a vicious adversary that abides by no rules, I believe the United States of America must remain a standard bearer in the conduct of war. That is what makes us different from those whom we fight. That is a source of our strength. That is why I prohibited torture. That is why I ordered the prison at Guantanamo Bay closed. And that is why I have reaffirmed America's commitment to abide by the Geneva Conventions. We lose ourselves when we compromise the very ideals that we fight to defend”. Obama parroted every Michael Moore, Code Pink talking point. America hasn't tortured anybody, Mr. Obama. America hasn't violated the Geneva Conventions. Obama never misses an opportunity to spew that disgraceful, disgusting, demagoguery.

Back to Obama's “just war” doctrine. During his speech he lauded almost every American military conflict. With one giant exception, the 2003 Invasion of Iraq. He hailed the first Gulf War, but he couldn't bring himself to say George W. Bush's war was just. By Obama's own standard stated in this speech, Iraq is justifiable. “The same principle applies to those who violate international laws by brutalizing their own people. When there is genocide in Darfur, systematic rape in Congo, repression in Burma -- there must be consequences. Yes, there will be engagement; yes, there will be diplomacy -- but there must be consequences when those things fail.” By any reasonable measure Iraq was a humanitarian nightmare. Saddam Hussein tortured (Real Torture, Not Waterboarding) his people for decades, he had rape rooms and torture chambers. He violated every international law, he abused every human right. With that record of atrocities, why can't Obama call it a “just war”? If he did he would need to most certainly repudiate his October 2002 rebuke of Bush's Iraq War.

This is how Obama characterized Iraq in 2002, “What I am opposed to is a dumb war. What I am opposed to is a rash war. What I am opposed to is the cynical attempt by Richard Perle and Paul Wolfowitz and other armchair, weekend warriors in this administration to shove their own ideological agendas down our throats, irrespective of the costs in lives lost and in hardships borne. What I am opposed to is the attempt by political hacks like Karl Rove to distract us from a rise in the uninsured, a rise in the poverty rate, a drop in the median income — to distract us from corporate scandals and a stock market that has just gone through the worst month since the Great Depression."

After leveling accusations like those, it's hard to admit the subject of your scathing criticism was justifiable. Either his speech in Norway was meaningless, which given his history of empty rhetoric it's possible or his 2002 Anti-Iraq rant wasn't heartfelt and was politically designed to appeal to the hard left, given his history of conveniently changing positions that's also possible. One thing is certain the phrase “just war” is just another vapid Obama platitude.